Growing Pains

With one major exception, hospital visits have always been positive experiences for Ashley.

When I first brought her home, the hospital we visited most often was our local Children’s Hospital. Everything about that hospital was geared towards children and their families. Doctors and nurses were specially trained and their hearts were called to tend to the needs of sick children. The facility was set up to put scared children at ease, and to make families a fully participating part in their child’s healthcare experience.

When that local Children’s Hospital became more of a rehab facility than an acute care facility, we were forced to seek care at one of our regular hospitals – hospitals which treat children and adults, hospitals which cater to pregnant women, people with cancer, people needing surgery and people with mental health issues. And still our experience was good since the hospital had a special department to handle the needs of children, even children with disabilities.

But now, as my children are becoming young adults, I’m finding that the special attention paid to making my children with disabilities comfortable during hospital visits is diminishing.

As young adults, my children with special needs are now just patients – patients just like those without special needs.

Have others of you found this to be true? If so, how have you addressed this with your medical support staff? I don’t think my children with special needs always need special attention, but I do believe they need the appropriate accommodations. And I’m not always finding that…